The voices of Jane Eyre
11 voices in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Every one is a separate voice, cast to the character as written.
- Narrator — Jane's mature retrospective narration — passionate, precise, deeply moral, and directly addressing the reader ('Reader, I married him'). Gothic in atmosphere, fierce in conviction.
- Jane Eyre — A small, plain, intensely passionate orphan who refuses to be crushed by poverty or cruelty. Her self-respect and moral clarity are her armour.
- Mr. Rochester — The brooding, irregular, sardonic master of Thornfield Hall. Deeply passionate beneath his rough exterior, haunted by a terrible secret in the attic.
- Mrs. Fairfax — The pleasant, motherly housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, initially mistaken by Jane for the mistress of the house.
- Bessie — Jane's nursemaid at Gateshead who was her only source of warmth as a child. Energetic, kind-hearted, slightly sentimental.
- St. John Rivers — The handsome, marble-cold clergyman who discovers Jane and offers her a life of missionary self-sacrifice. His love is duty, not warmth.
- Diana Rivers — St. John's warm, spirited sister who befriends Jane with genuine affection.
- Miss Ingram — The beautiful, haughty aristocratic rival who everyone expects Rochester to marry. Cold, contemptuous of Jane, ultimately vapid.
- Mr. Brocklehurst — The hypocritical treasurer of Lowood School who starves the girls while preaching Christian mortification — and keeps his own daughters in expensive curls.
- Helen Burns — Jane's devout, philosophical schoolfriend at Lowood who endures punishment with Christ-like patience and dies of consumption. Her faith is real, not performative.
- Adèle — Rochester's French ward, a chatty, affected child who recites poetry and performs for visitors.